By Erin Fencl
As the cheerleaders lined up at the back of the field at Cornell on Friday August 31st, everyone in the stadium could feel the excitement and nervousness in the air like a thick cloud. When the buzzer of halftime sang out into the night, the screams and cheers of the audience was blocked from the mind of Shannon Beck as she and the other cheerleaders ran out to the center line of the field to set their formation of their dance. As she was going out there, the only thing she could think about was forgetting all of the routine and messing up.
During the amazing stunts cheerleaders are so famous for, in their routine Beck is supporting the flyers up in the air by being one of the bases. She is responsible for keeping the flyer steady by holding her feet as she stands tall. One of the coolest moves, according to Beck, is what they call “the circle stunt.” This move creates the visual of being very intricate and difficult, but in reality the flyers are just holding hands while the bases walk in a circle on the ground. Although being in the heat of the moment is so exciting and intense, Beck said it’s like she’s not thinking at all. In the middle of the performance, Beck describes herself as being, “blanked out, only relying on repetitive motion.”
As their three minute long performance came to a close, the atmosphere of the stadium was filled with pride and happiness. “I was super excited when we finished the routine and the crowd cheered for us, all of our hard work had paid off,” said Beck. All of the cheerleaders were very happy with what they had worked so hard for.
Shannon Beck is a 16-year-old junior at MVHS, she is also known as Paige Beck’s twin sister. Both girls are in cheer, and have been since sophomore year. All it took was a little encouragement from Paige to get Shannon on her way to becoming a cheerleader for our school. When she finally decided to try out, she said that she was incredibly nervous and practiced nonstop. When the list of the people that made it on the team came out, Paige was reading it out and found her own name towards the top. Shannon became super nervous because Paige kept on reading down the list and hadn’t said her name yet. A wave of relief washed over Shannon when Paige finally found Shannon’s name at the bottom of the list.
When the team finally got into the swing of things, Beck was ready to give it her all. She describes practice as being very time consuming. In the summer they have practice three days a week for two hours each, but luckily for her during the school year they only have morning practice on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the week for one hour at a time. They start by stretching together, then they get into their cheer routines or a dance routine, and then they finish off the practice by stunting. If they have time at the end then they get to have bonding time to play games or just talk.
When Beck described a memory she had about cheer she said, “A funny memory was when I first got my braces on and we were practicing stunting, and I was always getting hit in the face so my mouth would be bleeding almost every practice.” But even though she went through so much pain, she was still very determined to keep at it and have a great time with her teammates.
Although she prefers football cheer, you can see her on the sidelines of the home basketball games. Beck said that basketball cheer is performed so fast-paced that the girls have a hard time keeping up. She also said, the student section isn’t as interested in them. In football cheer, however, she said it is more exciting for her because there are more opportunities to start cheers and have the student section get involved. A memory she has about one of her first football game performances was when they were doing spirits after a main cheer. She tried to do a kick when the track of the Cornell field was wet and slippery, and she fell over onto the ground. Just as anyone else would be she felt embarrassed, but as the cheerleaders always say, “fake it till you make it.” Now her signature spirit is two claps and a big wave, and always smiling, of course.
One goal that Beck has for this season of cheer is counting and staying on the beat. She finds that when she doesn’t know the counts it is harder for her to keep in time with either the music during dances, or with the other girls during cheers. Anyone in anything fine arts related would agree that counting is very important for staying in time with everyone else.
Another part of cheer that Beck equally enjoys is meeting the other cheerleaders from other schools. During our home football and basketball games the girls all get together and give gifts to one another. It gives them time to get to know each of the other girls on the opposing team.
“As a cheerleader you get to go to all of the games, and I don’t think I would go to as many if I wasn’t a cheerleader,” said Beck. Cheering is a great way to get out there and participate in events that some people wouldn’t regularly attend. Beck also believes that cheering is a great confidence booster. She believes anyone can do cheer as long as they like to dance, be happy, and support others.
